The Razor's Edge: Part I

“I’ve got an idea that I want to do more with my life than sell bonds.”

Hello readers!

I first read The Razor’s Edge back in 2017 — it was one of the first classics our in-person book club discussed together. Most of us had never even heard of it, but we all came away really impressed with the story and the sentiment. Larry and his “loafing” have stood out in our memories ever since.

Revisiting it now, nearly eight years later, feels like I’m reading it as a totally different person. Then: 29 with one kid, and six years of marriage under my belt. Now: approaching 37 with three kids and going on fourteen years of marriage. (As I re-read that sentence I just wrote, those numbers are hard to believe!)

My feelings towards Larry are a bit more mixed and complex than they used to be. I think. You see, this is one of those novels where you never really arrive at a satisfying answer to anything . . . it makes you keep chewing on things, even years afterwards.

This first week of reading, covering the entirety of Part I, was mostly about introducing us to Larry and framing what the story would be about.

Before doing that, let’s look at the introductory chapters, meeting Elliott and our narrator.

The book has been adapted to film a couple of times, but it’s especially hard to visualize a cerebral story like this.

Elliott and the pursuit of status for status’s sake

Right away, we were informed that the story was narrated by a writer named Maugham (very meta!) and that the subject of the story was an average man. There was something about this man, however, that was compelling and different. He didn’t conform to the standard ways of the world. But as readers, the opening pages didn’t reveal the details of this other than an intriguing hint like:

“It may be that the way of life he has chosen for himself and the peculiar strength and sweetness of his character may have an ever-growing influence over his fellow men.”